very disheartening to be this bad, any advice? (Read 2002 times)

Took me three years of running cross country, track and field, and swimming to drop my 5k time 7 minutes. It takes time. Not a week, a month, or even a year. If you want to be a good runner it has to become a way of life for you. Give yourself a long term goal, and a short term one. The half marathon this year might be a short term goal of yours, and a full marathon might be a long term one.

Weight does play a big role in running. The more you weigh the more likely you are to get hurt running and the slower you will run. I often think about the difference 5 lbs will make on running by imagining running with a 5 lb bag of sugar strapped to my back.

Keep up the good work though. Every day you run is a day you get better and closer to your goal.

This is a red flag for me. Success in distance running is more about quantity than anything else. Don't push yourself to run hard, push yourself to run more, and more often. How do you do that? By slowing down, and doing almost all of your runs at an easy pace. You will get much more out of 6 days/week of easy, conversational-paced running than you will out of sporadic "hard" running. Slow down, run more, and your easy pace will get faster.

On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.